Abstract:
Due to the urgent need for experimental study on supercritical water flow instability, the parallel-channel asymmetry which determines the feasibility of such experiments was studied with the experimental and numerical results in parallel dual channel. The evolution of flow rates in the experiments was analyzed, and the steady-state characteristics as well as transient characteristics of the system were obtained by self-developed numerical code. The results show that the asymmetry of the parallel dual channel would reduce the feasibility of experiments. The asymmetry of flow rates is aroused by geometrical asymmetry. Due to the property variation characteristics of supercritical water, the flow rate asymmetry is enlarged while rising beyond the pseudo-critical point. The extent of flow rate asymmetry is affected by the bulk temperature and total flow rate; therefore the experimental feasibility can be enhanced by reducing the total flow rate.